When Phil Murray sat in his spare bedroom in 1989 with a dream, few would have thought that 19 years later his company Petrotechnics would have such a profound impact on the oil and gas industry.

After turning his back on oil major BP, Murray stayed at home working out how best he could improve working practices in the North Sea sector.

He saw technology could be used to help those at the sharp end in the North Sea. His vision was to merge his extensive oil industry experience with revolutionary computer technologies, proven safety management techniques, superior staff training and competency improvement to deliver positive results to his clients.

He wanted to make the industry safer and the operations more effective.

Now his vision is a reality and Petrotechnics is a success, so much so that 85 per cent of all the work in the North Sea is managed by his company's system.

"We took a disparate paper process and developed a piece of technology that provided more control and rigour," explains Murray.

"We spotted an area where technology could add value and significantly improve the safety and effectiveness of front-line operation, and we were able to deliver it in a way that others couldn't."

Petrotechnics' solution is an integrated process which engages everybody in analysing the hazards and risks and managing the complex controls associated with delivering a safe worksite.

Before any work is carried out, the hazards must be assessed and a process for controlling them agreed. The computer system will not allow work to be done until all the agreed controls are in place.

The company's facts and figures show Murray has been doing something right. Growth of 60 per cent this year - for the fourth consecutive year - cannot be put down to the price of oil alone.

Turnover has increased to £15m, up from £11m the previous year and £6m the year before that.

"Our growth comes primarily from recognition of the issue we are solving with our solution and a growing adoption of that technology,"

Murray explains.

"The oil price helps with the budget but our growth has come about because we now deploy our solution on a much wider basis."

Indeed, one of the strategies operated by the company, which employs 170 staff of which 120 are in the UK, has been to export its expertise to help in all the world's oil and gas hotspots. Petrotechnics' solutions are now deployed on five continents covering 17 countries.

It has proved a good strategy for Murray, as now 85 per cent of all the company's business takes place away from the North Sea.

"We took a radical idea to a global product in six years," says the 50 year old.

"The way we did that was to dominate our own back yard, which was North Sea oil and gas.

From that we built a reputation and relationship with the major international oil companies.

"On the basis of that, we could export on the back of their international operations. Then we began to grow global contracts with them.

"We have now been able to access their downstream operations as well."

A graduate of the University of Salford in 1980 with a BSc in mechanical engineering, Murray is skilled at combining an engineer's attention to detail with an entrepreneur's vision of the future.

Following his studies, he was employed by BP where he worked internationally in various technical, operational and managerial roles.

During the ensuing 10 years with BP, he was involved in field development economics, operational management and petroleum engineering - all activities that apply to the core client operational disciplines served by Petrotechnics.

While the technology developed by the company has served - and continues to serve - the oil and gas industry well, could it be used in other industries? That is a question Murray has pondered in the past.

"At the European Business Awards, I was asked that. I said it could help any hazardous industry and the former chief economic adviser to the Polish president Professor Witold Orlowski said 'What, you mean finance?'.

"Even growing at 60 per cent a year, we are not growing quickly enough to meet the potential market that the product has. What we are having to look at is how we can scale and replicate what we do. A part of that is looking for third party delivery channels."

Once the company has worked that out it can start looking for partners to go into other vertical markets with such as nuclear, mining, transport, even the military.

"The financial markets might take a bit longer," he chuckles.

Far from resting on his laurels, Murray is convinced there is more out there for the company.

"We will continue to grow - not another year of 60 per cent - but it will be gearing up as an organisation to meet the wave of demand that will come at 2010 and beyond," he explains.

"People talk about whether we can build global businesses in Scotland. High growth companies like us inevitably become acquisition targets. What drives us is looking at the best way of maximising the value of our ideas.

"If that means we can use the third-party delivery channel, other partners or maybe partner with another global organisation, they are decisions that we must look at.

"Our track record to date shows this stuff has global application. It's about how we address that market in the shortest possible time and in a credible way.

"As we look at how best to address the market, it will start to define the capital requirements that we need. We will then look at what the appropriate financial structure is to do that.

"We come from an unusual position in that we are a technology company that has grown that's never had any external investment.

We have grown out of cashflow, which is very unusual for a hightech company."

Like many burgeoning industries, recruiting and keeping good people is a problem in oil and gas, but Murray does not see that as a big concern for Petrotechnics.

"We've had to be creative in attracting the right sort of people.

"We are finding people that are coming in for second careers - they have retired from their main occupation - but because of the sort of organisation we are, it's a good way for them to finish off."

FACTFILE: Accolades for Petrotechnics

Winning the 2008 European Business Award for Growth Strategy of the Year was a major honour for Petrotechics, recognising the hard work of Murray and his team.

The awards recognise business excellence across the 27 EU member states and are supported by sponsors who are seen as progressive and committed to promoting business achievements at all levels for the prosperity of Europe.

At the award ceremony, Murray discovered from other industries that there were different strategies when it came to exporting.

"When we won the award, it was interesting talking to the other companies because the oil industry is all about exports," he explains.

"From day one, when you come up with something in your own market, you are always wondering where else it will work.

"But with other sectors, it's about growing the business in your home market before taking tentative steps into export markets."

The latest accolade for Murray is being nominated in the Ernst & Young Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year awards, although he failed to win.

Murray was a finalist before in 2004. He says: "At that point we had very big growth ambitions and the judges thought we all drew these sweeping upward curves.

"It's good that we can go back four years later and draw the line that followed the curve we predicted."

We have grown out of cashflow, which is very unusual for a high-tech company

We spotted an area where technology could add value and significantly improve the safety and effectiveness of front-line operations